‘Call Of Duty: Black Ops 3’: Best Selling In Japan

According to the Japanese sales tracking group Media Create, since Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 dropped on November 6, 2015, the first-person shooter has gone on to move 187,446 units for the PlayStation 4 in Japan, after it had shipped-in 143,817 units during the first week for the console. The latest entry in the long-running first-person shooter series also sold 32,022 copies on the PS3, despite the fact that there’s no campaign mode on it or the Xbox 360.

Much like Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 has done, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare also took the number one spot on Japan’s sales charts during its opening week in November 2014 with 79,586 sales on PS3, as well as 64,060 more on PS4, and 3,370 on Xbox One. Furthermore, while Call of Duty: Ghosts didn’t take the top spot in its launch week in 2013—it took second place behind God Eater 2—the FPS debuted with 190,631 sales on PS3 and 12,950 on Xbox 360, and it later released on PS4 in February 2014, selling 13,701.

While Call of Duty: Black Ops 3‘s chart superiority in Japan may be a surprise to some, as the title’s brand of gameplay isn’t traditionally the type that makes a huge mark in the Eastern country, the above numbers definitely show a progressive trend toward Japanese fans embracing the series. Not to mention, the figures also reflect how the nation’s gamers have shifted as far as their platform of choice goes.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 screencap | Credit: Activision & Treyarch

On top of selling nearly 30 million units worldwide, the PlayStation 4 is currently Japan’s leading game console, as it has even been dominating the extremely popular portable systems and the lackluster numbers of Microsoft’s Xbox One. And with Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 performing so well on Sony’s current-gen system in the Land of the Rising Sun, perhaps the tech firm’s recent claim of shooter fans switching to PS4 holds water.

Not only has Black Ops 3 been lucrative in Japan, but the futuristic FPS has also been a smash hit worldwide, making $550 million in sales after just 3 days of being available. Of course, with most of the installments from the CoD franchise typically having made buku bucks after their release, it was expected that this year’s effort from Activision and Treyarch would also be a financial success.

Although Black Ops 3 reigns supreme on Japan’s charts for now, it’s entirely possible for the game to have peaked in terms of its progressive gross. After all, a lot of FPS fans in the country could very well turn their attention toward the long-awaited Rainbow Six Siege, and cause a sales spike for the tactical shooter in December, making it the best-selling Ubisoft shooter yet.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 is out now and is available for PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.